Can modern DNA technology solve the 36-year mystery of missing Priscilla Berry?

Ms Berry, 39, was last seen at her Mochdre home in North Wales in June 1978

Police enquiries with the National Missing Persons Bureau have identified a potential DNA match with a 39 year old local lady Priscilla Berry (pictured)

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New DNA technology could hold the key to resolving the 36-year mystery of missing Welsh woman Priscilla Berry, police hope.

Officers are appealing for relatives of the missing 39-year-old to see if they can match their DNA to a body recovered from the sea eighteen months after Ms Berry disappeared.

Despite extensive inquiries at the time, the disappearance of Ms Berry from her Mochdre home on June 14, 1978, has remained a mystery.

Eighteen months after she was reporteed missing, female remains were found at sea 15 miles off Llandudo on January 2, 1980.

However it was not possible to identify the corpse and the mystery woman’s remains were buried in a local cemetery.

Police working with the National Missing Persons Bureau now hope that modern investigative techniques may resolve the mystery.

Det Con Don Kenyon of North Wales Police who is leading the investigation said: “It is now possible to link close family members such as siblings or children through DNA.

“If we can locate a brother, sister or child of Mrs Berry we can take a DNA sample to compare to the remains and establish if there is a familial link”.

“Although Mrs Berry went missing over 35 years ago we believe it is still important for her family to know what became of their relative and we will do all we can to help.

“It is by no means certain that the remains are those of Mrs Berry but the proposed tests should provide a definitive answer. We are therefore appealing to anyone who is related to Priscilla Berry or knows any of her family members to contact North Wales Police and help bring some degree of closure to her family.”

Under Operation Orchid, officers are combining the latest advances in DNA technology and traditional investigative methods to help conclude enquiries that started years ago and help bring some closure to families.

Criminality is not suspected in any of the cases and the focus of the operation is to identify, reunite and allow the dignity of a funeral service for family and friends to pay their respects, police chiefs said.

Anyone with information that could assist can contact don.kenyon@nthwales.pnn.police.uk or 01745 588784.